In the first century B.C., a typical Roman citizen's day would include work in the morning and a leisurely afternoon at the public bath or thermae. Large cities and small towns alike had public baths. The baths were large buildings built for the citizens by rich emperors who wanted to impress their subjects. Sometimes, wealthy Romans who were trying to gain popularity with the people would pay the entry fee for anyone wishing to visit the baths for a whole day. There was a minimal fee so the lower classes and slaves could not attend.
Aqueducts or natural mountain springs supplied the water needed for the baths. The baths usually opened around 10:30 am and closed just before supper time. Men and women bathed separately. Women either bathed very early in the morning or at their own homes. Some of the baths for the higher classes were filled with wine for the men and milk for the women.
The baths were very elegant. A normal bath house would have mirror-covered walls, ceilings made of glass, and the pools lined with marble, and all sorts of artwork co
From the hot rooms you would go into a cooler room called frigidarium. The main function of the frigidarium was to close the pores after you where sweating in the hot rooms like the tepidarium or the calidarium. In the frigidarium you could expect to find a small pool of cold water to wash off all the sweat. If you enjoyed swimming, some baths had large swimming pools.
The tepidarium or warm room was filled with warm pools. Once undressed, you would go here to prepare yourself for the sauna-like room called the calidraium. These hot rooms where heated by the hypocaust. In this room, the Romans would rub oils onto their bodies and they would use a scraper called a strigil to scrape it off. They did this because soap was a rare luxury for the wealthy, higher classes of Rome only.
The public baths were the center of social life and a place for relaxation and recreation. Many works of art were discovered in the ruins. Cicero probably visited the public baths at least once a day, to relieve the stress given to him by Catiline. These baths are now a majo
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